Ahoy from 2010

I made my journey's first step and am recuperating from the rigors of the rivers quite well. Have been sleeping indoors, eating cooked food and spending very little time aboard Waltzing Matilda, Mattie is getting royal treatment and has shown that she is easily bribed via ham. We spent NYE together in a barn napping on bales of alfalfa surrounded by horses while it rained on the locals. I am not too keen on getting my head wet in the cold and naps in the hay loft is why we invented Jägermeister anyway.

I have taken on provisions, restocked fuel, done a little bit of work and made a little bit of money and despite the wonderful hospitality I am looking forward to getting into the gulf and getting underway. Thanks to The Google I am able to browse satellite images and determine a good course as well as find interesting things to see along the way. My next destination is as follows:(subject to change via captain's whim)

In a few days I will depart New Iberia nd head back down the Teche Bayou canal to the intracoastal and into the gulf at Jaws Bay. There I will set sail and head south west (still going west) to Cypremort Point State Park on Vermillion Bay. Cypremort Point State Park caters to sailing and sailboats so even in the off season I should be able to have a good place to practice sailing in larger waters. The rivers are too tiny and narrow to really set sail and having cliffs and trees around all the time makes the wind do funny things. I am going to spend a few days learning the gulf then head east (finally) to Grand Isle State park. This will be my 1st time out in the gulf navigating via compass but I will still be in sight of land the whole time.

From Grand Isle I will be headed north east, back into the bays and bayous to the town of Empire LA, about 90 miles south of New Orleans. Once there I will take a lock back into the mighty Mississippi and travel downstream a few miles to another lock at Ostrica, LA and into Quarantine Bay. Still heading north east I will sail through Chandeleur Sound to Ship Island MS. This will be my 1st time out so far that I may not be able to see land and I will definitely be reliant on my compass. One of the largest shipping fleets in the world operates in these waters so it's not like I will be alone, there are many oil rigs and various transports, hopefully no more plethora of flat bottom aluminum boats or those obnoxious fan boats. As I near Biloxi Bay I plan on a visit to Fort Massachusetts. I have not been doing enough tourist things on this voyage and it is time to start making up for that now that I am off the rivers and (soon) out of the bayous.

Lots of work to do on Matilda, got a few things I need to aquire before I hit the bay (like a life boat).

Here are posts about the restore of the Waltzing Matilda with video and images from Hillbillyfunk.blogspot.com
Engine and float test in beaver lake
The saga of restoration
Boat moving day!
More about the boat
I bought a boat!